March 31, 2010

I really don't have anything against old people.

Eventually we will all get old. Some of us are already senior citizens and we are all trying to deal with it. It is a new experience for all of us. None of us have been there before and there is no point looking for assistance because it is different experience for every individual.

But one thing is common. We should all try to act our age and more importantly accept our age.

Unfortunately too many people can not accept the latter condition. I have a serious problem with older drivers. And I mean really older drivers.

Case in point.

I saw on the news a car totally submerged in flood waters right on a highway here in New York. Actually, somewhere in the northern suburbs.

The only thing visible was the roof of the car. Actually I think it was a pickup truck.

As I understand there was a really deep drop in the road that was totally flooded. The police put up signs indicating that the road was closed.

So, here comes this 78 year old man who either didn't see the signs or just plainly disregarded them and drove straight into the water.

Well, he was rescued and is now in a hospital being treated for trauma and exposure.

I think they should give him a summons for disregarding the traffic signs and dangering the lives of the rescue people.

If the man can not see the signs then don't drive, if the man thinks he is smarter than the rest then why rescue him? I'm sure he had a plan how to get out of it.

How many times we read accidents when a driver loses control of the car and plows into groups of people, or drives into the living room of a house or similar accidents.

And, without fail these drivers are unfortunately always elderly people. Their claim was always that they lost control, they stepped on the gas instead the brake or they got overwhelmed.

Now with the Toyota fiasco they will probably also say that the car sped up on its own.

Don't misunderstand me, I am not anti old. But I am anti inefficient drivers. Anybody who drives and that is regardless of the person's age, should be aware of his or her limitations.

Nowadays everybody who is in the possession of any kind of license, may that be a doctor's, engineer's, airplane pilot's, nurse's, optometrist's and many, many more must take refresher courses.

Speaking just for myself. I received my driver's license in 1960. That was fifty years ago, wow!

In that time I drove at least half a million miles. That is a lot. But even though I am a very good driver, if I may say so, it wouldn't be a bad idea to require people like me and older to take a refresher driving test.

I don't want to cut a branch from under myself but in the long run something like this might save some lives even if it is my own.

March 30, 2010

It's been raining cats and dogs second day in a row. And they say spring is beautiful!

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that from Thursday on they are forecasting beautiful warm weather.

I trust the weatherman about as much as I trust the politicians! They both say what we want to hear.

But I really feel sorry for the people whose homes are being flooded out, now the second or third time within a few weeks.

I can't imagine living in an area where flooding is a regular or annual occurrence.

It is unimaginable that in today's technology in the middle of a major state they can not regulate the streams and rivers. Maybe they can they just don't want to.

The way the politicians are looking at something like this is that as far as they are concerned nobody of importance is living there so why spend the money.

For a few weeks they will go to these places, look very concerned, promise the moon and then nothing. On to the next issue. Do things that are self serving and not people serving.

Today was another day when I was really grateful I didn't have to go to work. There was nothing I hated more than go to work in the pouring rain.

I have a subway station about a block from where we live. But that one block was always enough to get pretty much soaked and then spend the day in wet, wrinkled clothes and wet shoes.

Now, I don't have this problem. I looked out the window and saw those people going with their umbrellas that didn't offer any protection and was glad I could stay home.

They say the rain is good for the fields, but I'm not a farmer and I really don't care about the fields. I live in the city and I know that food grows in the supermarkets.

March 29, 2010

I am so happy that I'm retired and not working anymore. It is not a money issue and it is not not being occupied issue.

The issue is that I used to go to work every day using the New York City Subway. This was undoubtedly the best way to get in Manhattan since it was inexpensive and most of the time fast and efficient.

No matter where my office was located the the subway had a stop nearby. But then came September 11.

Since then taking the subway was a frightening experience. My line was traveling under the East River in order to get into Manhattan. In rush hours the trains were always full.

I could not help but always think of how exposed we were to any possible terrorist attack.

It happened in Madrid, it happened in London and now it happened in Moscow.

Thank God that so far it didn't happen in New York. But all law enforcement experts agree that New York is a prime target.

My problem is that while the invisible security might be superb the visible one does not give me the warm fuzzies.

The New York Subway system has 468 stations. There is no way the police can patrol and make all of them safe. Years ago, late in the days there was a policeman assigned to every subway train who regularly walked through the trains. Now there is nobody protecting the passengers who travel late.

I used to see group of policemen at various stations who were supposed to stop people and check suspicious packages. I never saw anybody stopped. They were always too busy talking among themselves and drinking coffee.

As a matter of fact, one time I carried a fairly large box onto the train because I bought something that was delivered to the office and I had to take it home. This squad of policemen were at my station. They never took a look at me even though it was a big box and I was expecting to be questioned.

Unfortunately, whenever something tragic happens they announce that they beef up security and it supposed to make us feel safer. But what they do is that they protect the so called glamor stations most of which are in Manhattan.

But what about the rest of the over 400 stations? Are they being protected? What is the guarantee that something tragical can not happen in one of the remaining three boroughs the Subway serves?

The New York Subway system has an antiquated public announcement system that is almost impossible to hear and understand and it has no closed circuit television network that would cover all the stations.

That is why I am relieved that I don't have to rely on this transportation system any longer because I have absolutely no faith in the security that is supposed to be provided.

I survived the World Trade Center once and I have no wish to expose myself to another similar experience.

One in a lifetime is more that a person should be exposed to.

March 28, 2010

We don't even realize how spoiled we are here in this part of the Universe. We take everything life gives us for granted. If we would find ourselves without any of life's comforts we would panic.

I bet if somebody from today's generation would find himself in the middle of the Sahara Desert he or she would be upset for two reasons. One: no Starbucks in sight; two: can't text to a friend.

Yesterday my friend from England told us a funny story. It seems he had a clogged outside drain in his house. He looked everywhere to buy a good size rubber plunger that would work.

He was unsuccessful getting one around where he lived. Nobody seemed to carry such a thing except the ones good for the inside of the house.

He was forced to call a plumber who came over and in a few minutes cleaned the drain with the right size plunger. He naturally had one.

It seems that in England the 6" or larger heavy duty plungers are in short supply. So, my friend went in to the first hardware store he saw in New York and bought one for around $6. Good move!

When he told us the story we were amazed and immediately questioned him that don't the have a Home Depot or Walmart or K Mart over there?

The bottom line was that it was difficult for us to imagine life without any of these establishments. We are so spoiled, we are so used to these so called comforts that it is hard to grasp when someone lives without them.

This is similar to our saga I wrote about on March 16 when we had to tackle life without TV and the Internet. I don't want to say it was horrible but it was really crappy.

What I am trying to say is that maybe instead of constantly complaining about everything we should look around at what we do have and be a little bit grateful for it.

We really don't even realize how good we have until we don't have!

March 27, 2010

I had a great day today.

For one thing the Market was closed and it seemed that whatever bad news there was it just didn't matter. That's how I like it. This is what is called the status quo.

But the other thing that made this day great was that I met two of my dearest friends.

This is the once a year get together we have with two very very longtime friends. We know each other for such a long time that it is almost impossible to imagine.

Thank God we are well and we are at all our faculties. We remember things some people would rather forget and we are genuinely enjoying recounting old times.

Each of my friends have lovely wives and fortunately they all get along well.

That is sometime a problem with childhood friends that their spouses don't get along or they do not approve the friendship or bond.

Thankfully it is not the case with us. Our spouses are intelligent women who realize the value of good friends and plus they just also happen to like each other.

So, we had a great time together. We talked, rehashed some memories, caught up with the events of the past year and in the meantime ate some good Hungarian food.

I'm not sure that the success of our gathering was not because of the good food.

This was the visit I mentioned in my February 22 blog. How time flies. It seems that writing was only the other day and actually a month went by.

I am not rushing for next year when hopefully they will be coming again but nevertheless I am looking forward to it.

March 26, 2010

Why should I worry about Greece? Does Greece worries about me?

Yesterday the market went up over 100 points then it took a dive and finished only five points on the plus side.

And all that because they worry about Greece's debt problem.

I have a debt problem and I would like to know if Greece is worried about it. Probably not.

I don't understand it.

My wife and I frequently eat at two different diners. They are both owned by Greeks so we are really helping them. We probably do more than a lot of other Americans and I am sure Europeans too, are doing.

Then why should we lose money just because they happen to owe more money than they should have borrowed?

I like ouzo and I like moussaka. I liked Zorba the Greek and I like to throw plates on the floor. I am a nice person.

Then why am I being punished because Greece is having money problems?

Life is just not fair, is it?

That was yesterday, today is another story.

The market starts on the upside. Everything looks rosy. Maybe we can recoup yesterday's losses, we say.

Then the s..t hits the fan.

Some dumb ass boat driver in South Korea drives a warship to the rocks and sinks it. The world thinks that the evil North Koreans had their hands in it and the Market takes a dive, again.

Here is good old me being punished again but this time because of Korea. It seems they were afraid that this might provoke hostilities between the North and South Korea.

Later it turned out that this was not a hostile act but they did it to themselves. But it was too late to save the Market. After being up about 65 points it went negative and finished only 9.15 points on the positive side.

Why me?

I like Koreans.

I drive a Hyundai. The dry cleaner we give work to is Korean and we are on very friendly terms, the Japanese sushi buffet we like to go to is owned by Koreans but we don't hold it against them. So then why am I being penalized because something happens on the other end of the world?

I know why. Because the world is getting smaller and smaller. The world is now in our living rooms. Anywhere anything happens it affects everybody.

This is what global economy means: China eats the bad food and we get the diarrhea!

March 25, 2010

Over thirty-five years ago I knew a young engineer I worked with. The company we worked for for was a large engineering company with a lot of employees and a lot of work.

Nuclear power plants were the style then and they were hiring left and right and for reasonably good salaries and benefits because the competition was doing the same.

Well, this colleague of mine announced one day that he was leaving the company and was going to work for the New York City Transit Authority. This company was the predecessor of MTA New York City Transit. They ran the subways and buses .

I knew that the salary he was to get was way below what he was making at our company but he told me that the benefits were a great deal better than ours in the private sector.

Years later I met an engineer in New Jersey who worked for that state's Department of Transportation. This man was bright, he wrote some books and he knew structural engineering inside out.

His salary was also way below the norm for the private sector.

And in between these two that I knew there were thousands of professionals (at least in the New York area) who chose to work for municipal and governmental agencies for far less compensation than they could have gotten from the private companies.

Why did they do this seemingly illogical thing?

Because the municipal and governmental agencies gave something that the private sector didn't.

First, they provided job security. Then, they provided a pension plan. Then, they gave a free lifetime medical plan for the family. The transportation agencies also gave free transportation to the employees and spouses.

Comparing these benefits with the straight salaries no wonder people were drifting away from the companies. But the agencies were forced to do this in order to attract quality professionals.

Now, let's jump ahead to today and let's see what is the situation.

First of all, the definition of job security today means if one has a job this week it does not mean he will have one next week. Governmental agencies are cutting their work forces across the board.

Professionals and non-professionals are equally on shaky grounds and that includes police and firemen.

Now here is another thing. In order to attract the right quality workers the agencies were forced to increase their salary levels to par or even above the the private sector. So now, the professionals and non-professionals are a lot better off than their counterparts on the other side of the line.

But with salaries so high aren't the benefits a little exaggerated? Why should an employee after 25 to 30 years of service should be able to retire with 75% percent of his salary AND free lifetime medical insurance?

I can understand that some people joined these agencies long-long time ago when salaries were really low. They do deserve these benefits. But the ones joining now with incomes a lot higher should not be given the same benefits.

No wonder this City and many other municipalities are having serious financial troubles. They are giving away the store.

There are such disparaging differences in life that it is just unbelievable. Why is it that a professional person who spent his entire career with a company winds up with a lot less retirement benefit than another who just happen to collect garbage for a city agency?

There are employers and not even small ones who provide absolutely no pension plans. A person retires from them after many years of service and gets nothing but a handshake.

Granted, nobody was forced to work for such businesses but as time goes by it becomes more and more difficult to change employers even when one realizes that there is nothing waiting at the end of the yellow brick road.

Bottom line and the View From the Bottom is that reduce these unfair and undeserved benefit packages and maybe the financial pictures might look a little better for everybody concerned.